Heuristic trust

Interpersonal trust requires decisions under uncertainty (not risk!) as the probability of the other person reciprocating is unknown and can only be approached with rough estimates. It is difficult, if not impossible, to optimize trust decisions in rigorous and coherent ways. A suite of social heuristics is the trustors’ best means to achieve a satisfactory solution. We review the findings of a recent research program on bounded rationality in the trust game. We identify a set of social heuristics people can (or should) use when deciding whether to trust. Among these heuristics are social projection, social distance, all-or-nothing, and attention to the general normative environment. We present new empirical findings showing how people might choose whether to submit to different types of dictators in the eponymous game.